22 



NA TURE 



[July i, 1909 



SOME PAPERS ON INVERTEBRATES. 

 /"" OMMEN'CING with entomology, mention may be 

 ^' made of a paper on new and little-known North 

 American Tipulidje, by Mr. C. W. Johnson, published in 

 vol. .\xxiv., pp. 115-33, of 'he Proceedings of the Boston 

 Natural History Society. In addition to the description 

 of a number of new species, the paper contains the 

 diagnosis of the new genus Aeshnasoma, proposed for a 

 large tipulid with antennae of the type of those of 

 Longurio, but with a wing-venation differing from both 

 that genus and Tipula. 



To the March number of Spolia Zeylanica Mr. T. B. 

 Fletcher communicates the first part of a monograph of 

 the plume-moths of Ceylon, dealing in this instance with 

 the members of the family PterophoridEe. There are, it 

 will be remembered, two families of plume-moths, the one 

 already mentioned and the Orneodidae, or 24-plumed 

 group. Both are regarded by the author as very ancient 

 types, but there appears to be little or no near relationship 

 between the two groups, so that their mutual resemblance 

 may probably be attributed to convergence. .Although 

 nothing definite is known in regard to the advantage 

 gained by the splitting of the wings in these moths, the 

 author suggests that when pace is not essential, a light 

 framework of wing supplemented by cilia will be superior 

 to the ordinary lepidopterous wing, in that it gives an 

 equal measure of support with less expenditure of muscular 

 force. In the same issue Mr. P. Cameron describes certain 

 new Ichnfunionid,-p and Braconidie reared by Mr. Fletcher 

 from Ceylonese plume-moths. 



Part v. of the second volume of Records of the Indian 

 Museum is devoted to the revision, by Mr. E. Brunetti, of 

 two groups of Oriental insects, namely, the flies of the 

 families Leptida; and BonibyIiid;c ; the' latter paper con- 

 taining a list of the known Oriental species, of which 

 some are described for the first time. 



To the Proceedings of the South London Entomological 

 and Natural History Society for iqoS-q Mr. H. S. Kremlin 

 contributes a paper on the results of experiments to show 

 the effect of physical and chemical agencies on butterffy 

 pupae. The species forming the subject of the experiments 

 were I'ancssa urticae and Abraxas flrossulariata, the total 

 number of specimens treated being just over two tliousand. 

 Water and high temperature were the agents for the in- 

 fluence of physical conditions, while the chemical agencies 

 employed were nitric and hydrochloric acids, chloride of 

 lime, sulphur, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon disulphide. 

 In the case of V. urticae, the death-rate was excessive 

 when the pupse were exposed to continuous high tempera- 

 ture, hydrogen sulphide, and carbon disulphide. The pups 

 of A. grossiilariata were in great measure destroyed in the 

 water-laden atmosphere, and in the continuous high 

 temperature failed to develop; hydrogen sulphide, on the 

 other hand, was less harmful than in the case of the other 

 species, although it crippled such adults as developed. 

 Chlorine had a marked effect on the red colour of urticae, 

 but showed little result in the case of grossiilariata. 



To the June number of the Entomologists' Monthly 

 Magasine .Mr. R. S. Bagnall contributes "an account of 

 four species of Thvsanoptera new to the British fauna 

 among which Megathrips nobilis is also new to science! 

 That species, the largest European representative of the 

 group, was first obtained by Dr. D. Sharp in Wicken Fen 

 during 1896. 



Leaving insects for arachnids, we find in the .April issue 

 of the Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy Mr. N. 

 Banks cataloguing a collection of spiders from Costa Rica, 

 with descriptions of new species. The new forms are 

 about seventy in number, in addition to which there are 

 about a score of species not mentioned in " Biologia 

 Centrali-.\mericana." Of the web-making species, a con- 

 siderable number are common to the United States, but of 

 the other groups few kinds range so far north. 



To vol. xxxviii., part iv., of the Travaux Soc. Imp. 

 Nat. St. P,}tcrshourg, Mr. E. K. Suworow contributes 

 ■an elabor.ite account of the anatomy of I.xodcs rccluvius. 

 -a tick exhibiting sexual dimorphism "in a strongly marked 

 degree. The much smaller males are, for instance, dis- 

 tinguished from the females by a peculiar system of 

 divisions in the external envelope of the body, while there 

 NO. 2070, VOL. 81] 



are also histological differences in the hypodermis of the 

 males as compared with that of the females, as well 

 as distinctive features in the mouth-organs. 



Three papers published by the U.S. National Museum — 

 two in the Proceedings and one in the Bulletins — are 

 devoted to crinoids. In the first of these (Proceedings, 

 vol. xxxvi., pp. 391-410) Mr. A. H. Clark describes a 

 second collection of these organisms obtained by the S.S. 

 .ilbatross, of which fifteen species, together with four left 

 over from the first collection, are regarded as new, and 

 duly named, one of these forming the type of a new 

 genus. Eudoxocriniis alternicirrus, hitherto known only 

 by Challenger specimens, has been re-discovered, and its 

 habitat definitely determined, but several other Challenger 

 forms have not been met with. 



In the second of these papers (Bulletin No. 64) Miss 

 Elvira Wood, of Columbia University, gives a critical 

 summary of Dr. Gerard Troost's unpublished monograph 

 of the fossil crinoids of Tennessee. Dr. Troost, who was 

 born in Holland in 1776, settled in Philadelphia in 1810, 

 where he became one of the founders, and the first presi- 

 dent, of the -Academy of Sciences. In 1827 he removed 

 to Tennessee, where he became professor of geology and 

 mineralogy in Nashville University, holding that chair 

 until his death in 1850. Only about a month before his 

 death the manuscript of the monograph of Tennessee 

 crinoids was sent to the Smithsonian Institution for publi- 

 cation. After passing through various hands for five years. 

 this manuscript came into the possession of Prof. Hall, 

 in whose custody it remained for upwards of forty years. 

 The long period which has elapsed since it was written 

 rendered re-writing practically imperative, but certain por- 

 tions have been printed direct from the original KiS. 

 Many of the original illustrations have been replaced by 

 photographs or new drawings. 



In the third paper of this series (Proceedings, vol. 

 xxxvi., pp. 179-90) Mr. Springer describes, under the 

 name of Isocrinus knighti, a new crinoid from the Jurassic 

 of Wyoming. 



The molluscs collected on the north side of the Bay of 

 Biscay by the Huxley in the summer of igo6 form the 

 subject of an article by Mr. .\. Reynell in vol. viii.. No. 4, 

 of the Journal of the Marine Biological .Association. Out 

 of the seventy-five species collected, sixty-two have been 

 recorded from the British area. 



In No. 167S of the Proceedings of the U.S. National 

 Museum (pp. 431-4) Miss H. Richardson describes and 

 figures a specimen of the curious spinv woodlouse (.Xcantho- 

 niscus spiniger) of Jamaica. .Although this isopod is stated 

 to be common in its native island, the type-specimen in 

 the British Museum and the one described by Miss Richard- 

 son are believed to be the only examples in collections. 



t 



THE RESEARCH DEFENCE SOCIETY. 

 'T'HE speeches at the annual general meeting on June 25 

 •"■ of the Research Defence Society illustrated the wide 

 and manifold interests of its work. It is, indeed, a 

 national society for telling the truth about a matter of 

 national importance. It defends the good name, the 

 honour, of science against reckless and unscrupulous 

 opponents, and we are not surprised at the welcome that 

 it received. The list of its 2500 members includes a very 

 powerful and thoroughly representative collection of great 

 names. The society has already formed a dozen branch 

 societies, has given many lectures, and has distributed 

 much wholesome and honest literature ; it has also pub- 

 lished a volume of essays, written with authority, and 

 pleasanti}' free from all controversy. Thus it has begun 

 well ; and the report of its committee is justly satisfied 

 with the worlv of the past year. We note here two of 

 the points made by speakers at the annual meeting. 



Sir James Dewar emphasised this fact, that Germany 

 is far ahead of us in the equipment of great Laboratories 

 for research in the ** borderland between physiology and 

 chemistry." Money is spent lavishly over the investiga- 

 tion of organic chemical bodies, the discovery and the 

 preparation of new organic drugs. The services of a 

 hundred expert and highly qualified men of science are at 

 the comrr.and of a single firm. They receive large salaries. 



